Steve Cooper has admitted he was always a keen student at the Pep Guardiola open university but is ambitious to topple the Manchester City professor on Wednesday night. Cooper’s Swansea City host Guardiola’s Premier League leaders in the FA Cup fifth round as the master and his enthusiastic apprentice meet for the first time. The Swans head coach has always been an admirer of Guardiola and has revealed he studied the Spaniard carefully when he was working for the FA as England U17 coach.

Steve Cooper saluted Swansea City’s surging promotion campaign as they moved to within touching distance of the top of the Championship after a 2-0 win at home to Norwich City. Goals from Andre Ayew and blistering drive from Conor Hourihane gave the Swans their sixth win in seven games as they moved to within two points of leaders Norwich with a game in hand. This was another victory built on the most solid of foundations with Steve Cooper’s tightest defence in the league delivering their 15th clean sheet of the campaign.

Swansea City have warned off envious clubs casting their eyes towards head coach Steve Cooper. The Swans boss takes his side into a top of the table clash with Norwich City at the Liberty Stadium tonight hoping to close the gap on the Canaries to two points with a game in hand as the title race heats up. Last season Cooper, who won the World Cup with England Under 17 before stepping into senior club management for the first time 18 months ago, took his side to the play-offs.

Swansea City’s Korey Smith is set to return to face his first club Norwich City in Friday’s table-topping Championship clash at the Liberty Stadium. The midfielder has missed the last three matches with a thigh injury but head coach Steve Cooper is hopeful Smith will be back for the contest between what were the league’s top two until Brentford’s midweek win over Bristol City. Smith, 30, joined the Swans from Bristol City on a free transfer last summer and quickly became a key component in Cooper’s side.

Swansea City head coach Steve Cooper tapped into his England connections to land new striker Morgan Whittaker from Derby County. Cooper – who used his background as England U17s boss to previously bring the likes of Marc Guehi, Rhian Brewster, Morgan Gibbs-White and Conor Gallagher to the club – did not coach Whittaker directly during his time with the FA. But the 20-year-old was in the age group below and has worked with Cooper’s assistant Mike Marsh.

Steve Cooper praised the quality of his team’s “brilliant” goals as his Swansea City team kept up their Championship automatic promotion campaign with a 3-1 victory at Rotherham. The visitors were in a commanding position at the break as fine strikes from the edge of the box from Conor Hourihane and skipper Matt Grimes gave them a two-goal advantage. Rotherham fought back and half-time substitute Freddie Ladapo headed in from close-range from Wes Harding’s long throw.

Conor Hourihane has heaped praise on Swansea City head coach Steve Cooper, having made an immediate impact following his loan move from Aston Villa. The Republic of Ireland midfielder has played two games since dropping down from the Premier League to gain more match action – the FA Cup victory over Nottingham Forest and the midweek 1-1 draw at home to Brentford. Now, comes Hourihane’s first away trip with the Swans who will look to keep a gap between themselves in second place and the Championship’s chasing pack in the play-off places, by winning at Rotherham.

Steve Cooper and Thomas Frank failed to see eye-to-eye after their teams went toe-to-toe before Swansea City rescued a point in an eventful 1-1 draw at home to Brentford. The two head coaches – who shared a heated touchline during two play-off matches last season – were in another intense debate at the end of this contest as they walked onto the field towards referee John Brooks. The official had sent off Kyle Naughton for a second yellow card with 69 minutes gone, before Brentford went ahead through Tariqe Fosu-Henry and then conceded a disputed equaliser scored by the Swans’ Conor Hourihane.

Something will have to give at the Liberty Stadium tonight when the team with the most clean sheet in the Championship hosts the team with the least number of defeats. Last season, Swansea City were pipped by Brentford in the play-off semi-finals and they are both back among the leading candidates for promotion – Swansea in second place and the Bees two points back in fourth. Steve Cooper’s Swans will have their title credentials tested to the full over the next 10 days with both Brentford and league leaders Norwich City due to visit the Liberty Stadium. Then. they have got Manchester City in the FA Cup fifth round.

Steve Cooper insisted the FA Cup was “not a distraction” as his Swansea side sailed into the fifth round at the expense of Nottingham Forest. Much had been made of the Swans failing to score more than twice in a game this season, a statistic they emphatically banished with a comprehensive 5-1 win at the Liberty Stadium. Cooper made seven changes to the side that won at Barnsley last time out, but saw his side lead 2-0 at the break through Liam Cullen’s crisp volley and a superb 25 yard shot from Matt Grimes. 

Jordan Morris has revealed the influence of German legend Jurgen Klinsmann on the road that has taken him to the Championship with Swansea City. The American international – who has joined the Swans on loan from Seattle Sounders – was capped by Klinsmann when Morris was still a college student six years ago at the age of 20. He has since won 39 caps for the USA, but credits Klinsmann with helping progress his fellow striker’s career.

Conor Hourihane has agreed to join Swansea City from Aston Villa on loan for the rest of the season. A loan fee and other terms were agreed between the two clubs on Tuesday and Hourihane is due to undergo a medical at the Swans’ training ground. A number of Championship clubs were interested in the 29-year-old midfielder, including Bournemouth who are four points behind second-placed Swansea in the table.